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Main versus alt
Main and alt are concepts created by players to make distinctions between their characters. Main usually refers to a player's "main character" (the character he or she plays the most, or otherwise treats with some form of favoritism), while alt (short for "alternate character") refers to other characters that a player plays with at least somewhat less commitment. Usually, this distinction is defined by the player of the characters in question, and it holds more relevance for some playstyles than for others. For instance, some players play a wide variety of alts across various classes or even servers and enjoy the game from various different angles without ever truly settling on a single "main," or even on a few characters that could be thought of as likely candidates for the label. Still, most players do end up developing one or a few characters more than the rest, and it is from this uneven investment of attention, time, and resources that the distinction between mains and alts arises. Strategic Impact Most players who do have a character that they consider to be their "main" tend to favor that character with play time, investments of in-game currency, and other opportunities. How exactly this favoritism is expressed may vary as much as the EverQuest playerbase itself does, but some form of favoritism is nearly always present, and can be important to keep in mind when planning sessions of group or raid play. Impact on Deciding When and with Whom to Play Consider, for example, a player whose "main" is a level 84 wizard, who also has a level 15 shaman alt that he started months ago but hasn't been interested in playing further because the class didn't really grab his interest. Suppose that a group of this player's friends ask him if he would be willing to play that shaman with them in a group of alts that are around the shaman's level, as a way to level up some new characters together, relax, and have fun along the way. The wizard player's focus on his main and desire to work on things for that character (progression, equipment hunting, reaching level 85 for Twincast, etc.) might discourage him from accepting their request. The Phenomenon of "Changing One's Main" On the other hand, if the aforementioned player's desire to join his friends is strong enough, it might motivate him to give the alt another try and play with them after all. Further, it might even lead to him discovering that he enjoys the shaman class if he plays it when he has friends to support who will be thankful for the buffs, debuffs, and healing that he provides. If this group play session ends up being repeated and evolves into a regular play group that the player consistently enjoys, he might eventually end up re-defining which character he considers to be his main, giving that label to the shaman rather than the wizard, despite the wizard still being much higher in level (and further along in progression) for the time being. He might then choose to use the wizard's platinum to twink the shaman extensively, or might opt to keep the shaman's gear level-appropriate in the interest of more balanced play with his friends. Meanwhile, the players with whom the ex-wizard-main used to play (if different people from the ones he is joining on the shaman) might feel neglected and ask him to log onto his wizard from time to time to rejoin them. Depending on how things go, he might end up renewing his focus on his wizard, or he might still leave the wizard parked in its current state, only occasionally dusting it off to adventure with friends who are gradually outleveling the character. If fondness for playing the shaman continues to grow, the player might even decide to retire his wizard altogether, or he might merely relegate the wizard to alt status and leave it at that, playing that character when the mood strikes him. Gray Areas Some players have enough playtime that they may end up splitting their attention among a few different characters that they genunely treat as "mains" of roughly equal value to one another, and all of these characters may end up near-equally far along in level, AA, equipment, and quest progression. Such players might refer to these characters in order of importance or seniority (as their "first main," "second main," etc.) or simply as their "mains." Some players who box consider more than one member of their boxed party to be mains, rather than alts, and may give specific characters a correspondingly larger share of quest items, loot, and overall playing effort. Sometimes these distinctions are practically motivated. For instance, it may be in the best interests of a boxed party for the player to treat the party's tank as the "main" character, showing favoritism in equipping and progressing that character, since having a sturdy tank can contribute greatly to a boxed party's success at nearly anything it seeks to do. A player's friends and/or guildmates may or may not always share the same opinions about which of a player's characters should rightly be called mains and which should be called alts. Differences of opinion and miscommunications about this may sometimes cause strife in guilds whose loot systems make distinctions between mains and alts, preferring to give loot to the one character that each player uses the most in raiding. Furthermore, some guilds with this type of loot system may make exceptions for players who regularly box two or more characters at a high enough capacity for the guild's leadership to consider each character to be a main its own right. See also *mule